Leaders emerge in three legislative districts

Who will emerge from contested races in five legislative seats became clearer Tuesday following the first round of ballot counting in this year’s primary.

An Edmonds City Councilman and a Republican Party leader topped the field in a hotly contested race for an open legislative seat in south Snohomish County while Sen. Maralyn Chase, D-Shoreline, withstood an intraparty challenge, though she and her Democratic foe could square off in November.

Moscoso, 64, of Mountlake Terrace, is wrapping up his second term.* The vice chair of the House Transportation Committee helped form the House rail caucus. He spent the better part of his career working for Community Transit and organizing its union.

Barton, 43, of Bothell, is a business owner, certified public accountant and financial analyst. He previously served as a Mill Creek planning commissioner.

Griffin, 51, of Clearview, is an operations manager for a recycling company. Moscoso defeated Griffin in the 2010 Democratic primary.

The 1st Legislative District covers parts of south Snohomish and north King counties, including Bothell, Brier, Mountlake Terrace and parts of Kirkland.

10th Legislative District, Position 2

Three challengers fought to unseat Rep. Dave Hayes, R-Camano Island, in the state House of Representatives. Hayes represents the 10th district, spanning Island County and part of Skagit and Snohomish Counties.

Republican Brien Lillquist and Democrats Nick Petrish and David Sponheim joined Hayes on the primary ballot.

Hayes led the race Tuesday evening, with Petrish coming in second to claim a spot in the general election. Initial results showed Lillquist and Sponheim trailing.

Hayes, a 47-year-old Navy veteran and a sergeant with the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office, is wrapping up his first term in Olympia and said his focus has been and continues to be public safety.

Petrish, 51, is an electrician and U.S. Army Veteran who grew up in Anacortes and now lives in Big Lake. He supports labor unions, women’s access to birth control and redirecting university dollars from athletics to academics.

Lillquist, a 67-year-old Navy veteran from Oak Harbor, ran for office to deal with funding issues for schools, prisons and transportation projects. He said he’s been disappointed with his representation at the state level.

Sponheim, 54, previously worked in advertising and heads up America’s Third Party, though he ran as a Democrat in the primary. He wanted to trim budgets in Olympia and clear the way for more recreational marijuana businesses throughout the state. Sponheim said he plans to run a write-in campaign for the U.S. presidency in 2016.

21st Legislative District, Position 1

Republican Allen McPheeters and Democrat Strom Peterson led three other challengers in one of the year’s most competitive primary election contests.

McPheeters, 46, the only GOP candidate in the field, collected 33.1 percent of the votes tabulated Tuesday. He is the chairman of the 21st Legislative District Republicans and entered the contest partly because no other GOP candidate had done so.

Peterson, 46, an Edmonds City Council member and owner of a downtown restaurant, is in second with 27.6 percent.

Scott Whelpley, a Navy veteran making his first run for office, garnered 20.2 percent followed by Democrats Justin McMahon (14.7 percent) and Dick McManus (4.2 percent)

The top two finishers will meet in November with the winner succeeding retiring Democratic state Rep. Mary Helen Roberts. Roberts endorsed Peterson for the job.

The focal point of the primary had been on the Democrats because Peterson, Whelpley and McMahon each proved able to raise money and secure endorsements from prominent Democratic lawmakers, labor unions and other elements of the party base.

32nd District, Senate

Sen. Maralyn Chase, D-Shoreline, collected 51.4 percent Tuesday while her two opponents split the remainder nearly down the middle.

Republican Robert Reedy finished Tuesday with 24.6 percent and Democrat Chris Eggen, currently the deputy mayor of Shoreline, had 23.9 percent. Only 150 votes separate the two candidates.

Chase, 72, has served in the State Senate for four years. She previously served eight years in the Washington State House.

Eggen, 68, is a retired University of Washington engineer and Reedy, 60, is a licensed insurance agent.

Other races

Several legislative races featured only two candidates and both will advance.

In the 38th District, which takes in most of Everett, all three seats pit a sitting lawmaker against one challenger. The match-ups are Democratic Sen. John McCoy and Republican Craig French; Democratic Rep. June Robinson and Republican Jesse Anderson and Democratic Rep. Mike Sells and Libertarian Elijah Olson

Similarly, in the 44th District, candidates in all three races will advance to November. Republican Mark Harmsworth and Democrat Mike Wilson are battling for an open seat. The other contests involve Democratic Sen. Steve Hobbs and Republican Jim Kellett and Democratic Rep. Hans Dunshee and Republican Rob Toyer.

In the 1st Legislative District, Republican Mark Davies is running as a write-in against Democratic Rep. Derek Stanford. Davies must collect at least 1 percent of the votes cast to force a run-off in November.

Two state representatives — Dan Kristiansen, R-Snohomish, and Cindy Ryu, D-Shoreline — were unopposed and will be re-elected, barring an unforeseen write-in challenger emerges.

Correction, Aug. 6, 2014: Democratic state Rep. Luis Moscoso is finishing his second term. An earlier version of this story had an incorrect number of terms.